Ammunition Stores

What use is the mightiest engine when there is nothing to fling at the enemy but insults?

Artillery provided defenders with greater firepower, but required large amounts of ammunition which had to be stored inside the settlement walls. Stone balls of varying sizes were stored within fortifications for use when the time came. Excavations in Carthage and the Greek city of Dora provide evidence that large-scale production of ammunition took place in order to prepare for the onset of any siege. Over 5,600 artillery balls have been found within the site of Carthage; they predate the Roman attack on the city that burnt it to the ground in 146BC.